Law enforcement officers spent Friday searching for the man who murdered a mother and her three children in their home in a subdivision near Conover the day before.
Lisa Saephan and her three children, 20-year-old Melanie, 18-year-old Pauline and 3-year-old Cody were found dead just after 7:30 a.m. Some of the victims had knife wounds and some were shot, Chief Deputy Coy Reid of the Catawba County Sheriff's Office said. At least one of the women tried to fight off the attacker.
"This is probably the worst thing I've ever seen in 30 years," Reid said.
Friday afternoon, officers released a sketch of the man they believe committed the crime.
Brian Tzeo, Saephan's husband and the children's father, was at work in Statesville when his family was killed.
Reid said Tzeo and his wife were separating but maintained Tzeo has been ruled out as a suspect in the killings.
Mike Mai Cai is a friend of the family and has lived next door to them for about seven years. He said during the summers he and Tzeo would visit each other just about every day. He said Melanie, Pauline and Cody called him by the honorary title, Uncle Mike.
The families got together at neighborhood barbecues or to play cards and have a couple of beers while watching Chinese kung fu movies.
Cai said he and Tzeo looked after each other. Through tears, he said regretted having gone to work earlier than usual Thursday morning because if he'd followed his normal routine, he would have been on the porch having his morning cigarette when the suspect came to the house, and he may have been able to prevent the murders.
"I could have seen something," he said. "Seven years together and in one morning they're gone. This broke my whole family's heart."
Tzeo is an avid fisherman and prefers to go after striped bass, said his friend, Phaeng Symahanou. "Sometimes he'd get off of work and go straight to the lake," he said.
Cai said 3-year-old Cody inherited his father's love of the sport and would go along as often as he was allowed, no matter what the weather was like. He also loved computer games even though he was too young to know how to play them. Cody was often seen playing ball or riding his Big Wheel on the driveway.
Cai said it hurts to look at his neighbor's house and know what happened there. He said he'd like to sell his home and move away.
Cai's been in touch with Tzeo since the murders. He said his friend has holed up in a hotel, refuses to eat and says he has no reason to live.
"He hasn't eaten anything. I told him, 'You have to eat. You have to fight. Please keep fighting.' But he said to me, 'I don't need to be alive anymore. I don't need to live,'" Cai said.
"Whoever did this knew the family's routine," Cai said. "They knew that Brian went to work the same time every morning."
Catawba County Sheriff David Huffman said that was probably correct.
Investigators worked at the crime scene all day Friday while others interviewed friends, family and neighbors.
Crime lab technicians are working to get DNA and fingerprints from a gun officers found about two blocks away from the scene and believe may be one of the murder weapons.
Anyone with information about this crime is asked to contact the Catawba County Sheriff's Office at (828) 464-3112.
"America's Most Wanted" will air a segment on the killings at 9 p.m. Saturday on FOX.
The AP contributed to this report.
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